Tag: Isaac Vallie-Flagg

2015 is off to a rough start for a handful of UFC fighters, Potato Nation. According to a pair of tweets sent out by @FightersInfo (which have been confirmed by several of the names mentioned), the UFC has released seven more fighters from its roster and lost another to retirement. Fight Night: Dickshooterwill surely suffer from this.

Let’s get to the casualties, shall we?

Isaac Vallie-Flagg: After transitioning to the UFC following the Strikeforce merger in 2012, Vallie-Flagg quickly established a reputation as one of the lightweight division’s most consistently entertaining brawlers. Unfortunately, his inconsistent at best 1-3 record inside the octagon just wasn’t doing it. Following his third straight loss to Matt Wiman at Fight Night 57 in November, Flagg announced his release from the UFC via Twitter last week, stating that “sometimes putting on a fun show isn’t enough” before seeing if his old buddy Scott Coker was in need of someone who “comes to scrap.”

Guto Inocente: Another Strikeforce veteran and one who was riding a ton of hype into the UFC until Alistair Overeem’d him in training, Inocente made his long-awaited (and long-delayed) UFC debut at the TUF 19 Finale against Derrick “The Black Beast” Lewis. It did not end well. Inocente made the cut to light heavyweight for his next bout and came in as a huge favorite against (my boy) Anthony Perosh at Fight Night 55, but the 42-year-old “Hippo” was simply too grizzled and choked him out inside four minutes.

There’s good news for you: There exists legitimate (and, most importantly, LEGAL) footage of the fight’s best parts.

Edgar beat Swanson to the punch throughout their five-round affair last night. He also beat him to the takedown, too, dragging Swanson to the mat and smashing him with ground and pound (as much as a 145-pound man can smash someone, at least). In the fifth round, Edgar managed to submit Swanson via rear naked choke with only four seconds remaining. This was arguably Edgar’s finest performance to date — a fight so one-sided the word “fight” really isn’t appropriate. Use “ass-kicking” or, if you’re a language-sensitive baby, “shellacking” instead.

The UFC Fight Night 57 main card kicks off on FOX Sports 1 at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT, and our old friend Matt Kaplan will be stickin’ round-by-round results after the jump. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and shoot us your own thoughts in the comments section or on twitter @cagepotatomma. Thanks for being here.

It’s the halfway-ish point of the year, which means that we are a mere six or so months away from handing out our annual Potato Awards in categories such as “MMA Fail of the Year”, “Media Shill of the Year”, and the always coveted “Krazy Horse Bennett Arrest of the Year.” But because you Taters have been good this year, we’re going to allow you to open one present early: Our definitive ranking of the best UFC brawls of the year, so far.

To repeat: This list is only dedicated to the best *brawls* of the year, which implies a fight in which both participants take their fare share of licks. TJ Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao was a one-sided beatdown, albeit a brilliant one-sided beatdown, and therefore bears no mention here. Except that I just mentioned it. God damn it.

Let’s just get to the top 10 brawls of the year, nearly all of which contain links to full fight videos for your viewing pleasure…

A classic example of two guys with more heart than brains (or defensive capabilities) leaving it all in the octagon, Kevin Souza vs. Mark Eddiva opened up the FS1 prelims for the TUF Brazil Finale in a huge way.

Watching Souza vs. Eddiva was kind of like watching two women play Tekken for the very first time, in that both fighters only seemed to understand how one button on their controllers worked — for Eddiva it was leg kicks, for Souza it was the overhand right. These two techniques were traded with absolutely zero setup for two highly entertaining rounds, earning both men a $50,000 “Fight of the Night’ bonus in an evening of otherwise unmemorable decisions and memorable-for-all-the-wrong-ways squash matches. It was Souza, however, who walked away from the fight victorious via an always rare standing TKO.

Soa Palelei vs. Ruan Potts - Just over a week after signing with the UFC, EFC Heavyweight champion Ruan Potts will face the streaking Australian Soa Palelei in his promotional debut. Since returning to the UFC (after going 10-1 in various promotions following his one-off stint at UFC 79), Palelei has scored back to back (T)KO’s over Nikita Krylov and Pat Barry. Expect a stand up war between these two that ends inside the distance, Nation.

Justin Salas vs. Ben Wall: A potential “Loser Leaves Town” match pits Salas, who has dropped 2 out of his past 3 including a most recent submission loss to Thiago Tavares in under three minutes, against the 7-1-1 TUF Smashes alum who was starched by Alex Garcia in under a minute at Fight Night 33.

“I’m looking at anyone in the middleweight division to get myself back into (title) position,” Rockhold said. “I already let it be known Bisping’s out there. A lot of people are calling him out, but Bisping went on national TV and told everybody he was the unofficial Strikeforce champion. He calls it a joke and this and that, but I say he’s got bad taste and he needs to pay for it.”

Fact: Chris Weidman hits so hard that his victims often fail to quantify the force of his punches until weeks and sometimes months after they’ve been hit. Just ask middleweight contender Mark Munoz, who received such a vicious beating at the hands of Weidman last July that his bones began to disintegrate over the course of the year in an attempt to deal with the shock. Hell, even Weidman’s body cracked under the pressure of possessing two pipe bombs for hands. So it’s quite fitting that, almost a year to the day after their clash at UFC on FUEL 4, both Weidman and Munoz have been booked to return to action at UFC 162.

If you recall, Weidman’s teammate, Costa Phillipou, quickly stepped in as a replacement against Boetsch at UFC 155 and managed to successfully cut “The Barbarian’s” title hopes right out from under him with a series of eye pokes and headbutts that were eventually declared a third round TKO. Prior to the loss, Boetsch had racked up 4 straight wins in the middleweight division over the likes of Hector Lombard and Yushin Okami among others. Will ring rust play a factor in Munoz’s return to the octagon, or will Boetsch launch himself right back into the short list of contenders at middleweight with a win here?

Munoz vs. Boetsch is just one of several exciting matchups to be announced within the past few hours, so join us after the jump to check out the chronologically-sorted list.

(“I don’t do anything but go forward and punch people. That’s what people want to see.” Photo via Getty Images)

For several Strikeforce veterans transitioning to the UFC, last month’s “Aldo vs. Edgar” event was their opportunity to sink or swim. Hard-charging lightweight Isaac Vallie-Flagg — who had scored wins over Brian Melancon and Gesias Cavalcante during his Strikeforce stint — was given a stiff test against Yves Edwards during the UFC 156 FX prelims broadcast. And though most casual fans probably weren’t familiar with him before the match started, they certainly took notice after Vallie-Flagg’s gritty performance netted him a split-decision victory. Not bad for a 2-1 underdog.

With his spot on the UFC roster somewhat more secure, we called the Jackson’s MMA product last week to learn a little more about his Octagon debut, and his path from teenage troublemaker to new factor in the UFC lightweight division. Enjoy, and please follow Isaac on twitter @IKEVF.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Let’s talk about your most recent fight, against Yves Edwards. I heard afterwards that you had the flu or something. Did that start coming on before the fight?ISAAC VALLIE-FLAGG: Yeah, it was actually really funny. Joe Stevenson is a good friend of mine, and he was coming to help me cut weight. And he shows up and gives me this gigantic hug because I haven’t seen him in a little while, and then he goes, “I’m really sick dude, I’ve got the flu.” And I say, “Joe, why did you touch me?” I was hoping that I could fight it off, but I already had kind of a bigger weight cut getting down, because I was really heavy when I got the call, and my body just couldn’t take it. I started to cough Wednesday, and by Thursday and Friday I knew I was sick. I was just trying not to let it get in my head. And afterwards, as soon as I stepped out of the cage, it’s like my body told me to chill out and get some rest.

How much did that affect you during the fight? You still looked strong in the third round — if anything, it looked like Yves was fading, not you. Do you think you could have pushed harder and gotten a finish if you weren’t sick?
I don’t know if I would have finished Yves, but I would have punched a lot more. I’ve watched the fight a few times and I wasn’t happy with how upright I was, and I wasn’t throwing all the combinations that I wanted to.

Did you find yourself affected by the so-called “Octagon jitters,” where the adrenaline dump wears you out when you’re fighting in the UFC for the first time?
It’s funny, because everybody was like, “Oh man, this is the big show, and you’re gonna freak out,” but I felt more comfortable fighting in the UFC than I have any time before. I really felt like I was fighting where I should have been fighting the whole time.